This is the fourth exhibition within "Contexto Vanguardia" that seeks to maintain a permanent dialogue between the works of the IVAM collection belonging to the avant-gardes of the first decades of the twentieth century and the works of the MACA's Twentieth Century Art Collection, so that complementary readings are established, support and context for some pieces that, in communication with others, strengthen their language, thus allowing the visitor to enjoy artists not represented in the MACA while completing the vision of the avant-gardes. The objective is to create content and share knowledge. «Abstraction or Still Life», «Abstraction» (1933) and «Abstraction in longitude» (1926-1928) are the three oil paintings on canvas by artist Luis Fernández that are shown alongside works by Julio González, Pablo Gargallo and Juan Gris, among others. Luis Fernández (Oviedo, Spain, 1900- Paris, France, 1973) was one of the Spanish artists of the so-called School of Paris. He arrived there in 1924 and struck up friendships with Picasso and Julio González, as well as with geometric abstraction that would lead him to join the Abstraction-Création movement. A painter concerned with craftsmanship and the artisanal concept of the work, he formulated his thinking in various texts written in the 1930s, his most analytical and experimental period. He reflected on color and its function in painting, on composition, format and the profound meaning of abstraction which for him possessed metaphysical and symbolic resonances. His painting—he said—was an "unconscious representation of the order that man observes in the universe".

The city is one of the most characteristic symbols of modern society. Cities are at the forefront of the most outstanding experiences and the boldest behaviors, the place of maximum development of the arts. For this reason, many artists have the life in cities as a central element of their works, cities understood (often) as a collage of a multitude of discontinuous and fragmented memories and experiences, as a confusing labyrinth in which inhabitants cross paths immersed each in their own thoughts.

The central idea of this exhibition is to show works that allow us to know the multiple visions, the different spaces and the great quantity of human existences that have shaped life in cities in the last century, through works from the IVAM collection. The institution holds among its collections the most comprehensive and complete vision on this subject that can be found in a Spanish museum.